


Galaxy Quest, and a Better Kind of Fandom (meta)

by aralias



Category: Fandom - Fandom, Galaxy Quest (1999)
Genre: Gen, Meta, Work Contains Fan(s) or Fandom(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-10
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-13 00:08:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5686939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aralias/pseuds/aralias
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A discussion of how Galaxy Quest depicts fandom as something good that inspires people to do good things/something that makes me (as a fan) feel respected by the industry, as well as affectionately mocked for what is certainly, also, a lot of very strange behaviour.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Galaxy Quest, and a Better Kind of Fandom (meta)

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this as part of the January talking meme in response to a prompt from Selenak: _Galaxy Quest: why it's the best depiction of fandom in a sci fi source_ I haven't quite met that prompt as I think, in its truest form, I think I'd need to talk about other depictions of fandom in popular media texts, and I haven't done my research. However - I do have strong feelings about Galaxy Quest and fandom - see below. 
> 
> Originally posted: http://aralias.dreamwidth.org/2046622.html

 

[ ](http://s1180.photobucket.com/user/aralias2/media/fans1.jpg.html)

The most obvious way in which this movie is kind to fans is that it shows us being vindicated - there was a clear reason why Brandon has been doing what he's been doing all these years:

 _BRANDON_  
_... But I want you to know that I am not a complete braincase, okay? I understand completely that It's just a TV show. There is no ship, there is no Beryllium Sphere, no diagital conveyor... I mean, obviously it's all just a-_  
_JASON_  
_It's real, Brandon. All of it, It's real._  
_BRANDON_  
_I knew it!... I KNEW it!..._

It's real, and it's OK to know a lot about something that is real/that's something that a normal person would do. In fact, normal people missed a trick here, by not believing.

Brandon and his friends (the fans) also very obviously save the day by being able to steer Jason and Gwen through the bowels of the ship, and by suggesting what the Omega 13 might do, and by coming out to the convention and guiding the ship into land. None of these things needed to happen for the plot to work (Jason could have used a map, Mathasar might have known what the Omega 13 did early on, the ship just crashes into the convention). Instead, these plot points happen because Galaxy Quest is invested in bringing the fans into the action, and by showing that their work is valuable (they don't just get to swing a sword or learn something like 'how to fly the ship' - they use the knowledge they already have through fandom in order to save the day).

Obviously Brandon and friends are the main fan representatives in the movie, but someone like Guy (who is, like Jason, clearly self-obsessed, but also, like Brandon, really gets the show, as we see from his opening spiel in front of the audience: _"For those four seasons from '79 to '82 we the viewers developed the same affection for the crew of the NSEA PROTECTOR that the crew had for each other... These weren't just adventurers exploring space, these were friends_ ") is also important in a similar manner. Without him around ( _"Didn't you guys ever _watch_ the show?"_ ) the crew would have been eaten by the miners. He brings a healthy _belief_ in the reality of the show (something that we get from fans), whereas the other actors are all too jaded really to do it properly.

The Thermians, too, should be read as fans - and, in fact, are probably our most important example, though the movie obviously classifies them quickly as 'aliens, therefore not weird fans'. However - they exhibit obvious fannish behaviour (showing up at a con, dressing as their favourite characters, obsessive attention to detail, one even sleeps with an actor etc). As with Brandon, their obsessive devotion is used for comedy (how ridiculous! Aliens thought this show was real, ahaha!) and they speak in funny voices, but while the movie does ask you to laugh _at_ them, certainly, it also shows us what these weird people have done by believing in the show. They've built incredible technology, far in advance of anything that we have (obviously this is stretching a bit when we think about regular SFF fans, but it's worth saying that people become astronauts and scientists and writers because of SFF shows they love). More importantly they were inspired to become better people and to live up to the ideals portrayed in Galaxy Quest: the show (interestingly, and touchingly I think, the true appeal of Galaxy Quest the show, and thus Star Trek, is shown to be friendship and respect between the characters, and the philosophy of exploration without cruelty, rather than space battles or sexy ladies).

_MATHESAR  
Yes, in the last hundred years our society had fallen into disarray. Our goals, our values had become scattered. But since the transmission we have modeled many aspects of our society from your example, and it has saved us. Your courage, teamwork, friendship through the adversity..._

A similar thing happens to the actors - the Thermians believed what they were watching was real, and the actors are _shown_ that it is real and how important they are. Thus, Jason becomes a hero who sacrifices himself for his crew and has the brilliant idea that saves the day, and (in the most affecting character-change of the movie) Alexander finally sees the point in the line people keep quoting at him. When he says"By Grabthar's hammer, by the suns of Warvan, you shall be avenged" to Quellek, he not only _actually means it_ (he _will_ avenge Quellek), which is astonishing in and of itself, but he also acknowledges that the character of Doctor Lazarus (who he demeaned horribly in the early scenes, as not being Richard III levels of important) and this line means something really important to a good and kind person (who has done much as fans would do - modelled his whole lifestyle on that of a fictional alien race, and is therefore exactly the sort of person Alexander would previously have disdained). Though he didn't know it, someone thought of him 'as a father' (whereas perhaps people simply said to each other 'that was a good Richard III' and forgot about it). Quelleek's sort of feeling (though presumably to a lesser degree) is probably why all those annoying geek-boys came up to him in the convention and were dressed like him. Because, like Quellek, this character matters to them.

 

[ ](http://s1180.photobucket.com/user/aralias2/media/18m4j83yb5eawjpg.jpg.html)

The Thermians not only change the behaviour of the actors (just as the "historical documents" influenced them), which is some serious power in terms of characters, they also somehow manage to get the show back on air by creating such a massive spectacle at the end of GalaxyCon, and presumably by waking the actors up to the fact that it would be worth fighting for a chance to continue the show. This mirrors what has been happening in SFF fandom since Star Trek:TNG (maybe before) right up to Star Wars and Doctor Who - and it makes sense that fans have this power to resurrect something they love, because they either are the ones who care enough to make it happen (in terms of TNG or Who), or show that there's serious marketable interest in something and it's worth continuing.

Speaking of changing the behaviour of the actors, just as something like 'Midsummer Night's Dream' shows audience members how to interact with plays, Galaxy Quest shows actors how fans would like to be treated. Alexander is not rewarded for his dislike and bad treatment of the fans (though obviously as 'sardonic British guy' his dislike of fans is definitely supposed to be funny/part of the act). Similarly, the guys who alert Jason to the fact that his 'friends' all hate him are shown as bullies. Theirs is the easy laugh, but they got nothing out of it except making Jason sad, as they would have made anyone else who heard it sad. In the world of the Thermians, they are the Sarris, who similarly laughs at the good-hearted Mathesar and is clearly a villain.

Conversely - even before his redemption arc, Jason is shown at his best in his interactions at the signing table (we can tell it's supposed to be read as a good thing because Gwen, our POV character/the moral compass, points it out to us). Yes, he's doing it less for them, and more for himself, but you could criticise any actor who enjoys getting paid as well as doing the job for the same thing. The way he interacts with his fans makes them happy - he is not only interested in what they have to say, he shows respect for the material by actually knowing what happens in what episode to a similar level as the fans (rather than just saying - I have no idea. I haven't watched that thing that you love because it's crap) and by espousing the right message - the same one that Guy tells us at the beginning (friendship and loyalty above all), and the same message that Mathesar will tell us has reshaped the Thermian culture.

 

[ ](http://s1180.photobucket.com/user/aralias2/media/tumblr_inline_n99wcikMxm1qb6dhp.png.html)

_JASON_  
_... on one hand, if I had moved an inch, the beast would have killed me. On the other hand, my crew was in danger..._  
_YOUNG BOY_  
_How did you know what to do?_  
_JASON_  
_Without a crew, I'm not a Commander ... And I think we all know what happened to that beast on Enok 7..._

This message is not ridiculed, even as Jason's pomposity is ridiculed. This stuff very much harks back to what I said about the Thermians/Quileek modelling their lives on Galaxy Quest being a silly joke, _but also_ a sign that this show had values worth taking, and that following this way of life produced universally lovely (if batty) people. Jason is saying the same thing to his fans right at the beginning (showing there's something worth redeeming in him!), but by the end of it he knows it's true as well as they do.

Interestingly I got my quotes from [the final draft of the script](https://sfy.ru/?script=galaxy_quest), which is not at all accurate. One consistent thread of things they deleted between this draft and what we see on screen is fan pervyness. There's a bit where Gwen has to sign a nude photoshop of herself, and Brandon's 14-year-old friend is told to stop downloading porn because his frame-rate on Skype is unacceptable (there are other examples to). While I have previously argued that it's wrong to downplay the erotic element of fandom (particularly transformative fandom) in essays _about_ fandom, here I think it's definitely the right call to get rid of it. Your average viewer probably still thinks at the end of this movie that fans are mostly spotty weirdos who watch a lot of porn alone in their parents basements and contribute nothing to society, but Galaxy Quest exists to _try_ and challenge that impression. It doesn't need to suppress the sex-element completely (to do so would not be accurate, and so we do get to hear about magazines that talked exclusively about Gwen's breasts), but it probably needs to go further the other way if it's going to be able to get its message across to the broader audience it is definitely intended for.

This decision to cut down on the sleaziness is also shown in the casting choices. Justin Long seems to have made a career of playing awkward guys, but he _actually_ looks shiny and handsome (like a Wesley Crusher and/or a guy who'd go on to play the cool Mac in the US Mac/PC ads) and like the kind of nice young man you'd be happy to have in your house. He and his friends _are_ weird (there are several jokes in the movie about how earnest Brandon is, my favourite is "I hadn't even gotten to the relevant conundrum..."), but so is everyone who is a person. Nobody (except Gwen) from the actor's side of things _isn't_ deeply weird and annoying in some way. Which is fine! People are like that. Brandon's friends (including a perfectly normal looking girl) all also look like normal people, not weird daylight starved pervs (though obviously there are plenty of those, too, in the audience scenes - but what you can _also_ see in the pictures above are women of around 30-40 listening to Jason, and of course - a small boy, because even kids these days sometimes like hokey scifi shows with unbelievable special effects! Not just weirdos).

 

[ ](http://s1180.photobucket.com/user/aralias2/media/image8.jpg.html)

What I think is nicest about this photo though is how joyful/moved they are about the events of the movie, which goes back to what I was saying earlier about this movie showing you what you can get out of fandom - friendship, a better model for your life, joy.


End file.
